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Still On Rebranding And The New National Identity (2) By Segun Imohiosen “Men and women are limited not by the place of their birth, not by the color of their skin, but by the size of their hope” these are words of John Johnson. Winston Churchill added that “success is gong from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm” The flag off of the rebranding campaign for Nigeria by the Dora Akunyili has drawn a lot of attention both locally and internationally. Particularly the online fora are laded with all kinds of opinions and reports negative and positive as the case may be. The beauty of it in spite of the unending criticism it has generated is that Nigerians are given yet another chance to have a hand in deciding on their destiny. One particularly irate contributor from one of the CLO’s observed online responding to the earlier feature on rebranding published both in dailies and online titled “Rebranding Nigeria For A New National Identity” that Nigeria is a hopeless, failed and genocidal state that can never do well regardless of its new brand. His opinion is quite devoid of facts, very myopic; lacking in substance and overly biased judging from the angle he descried Nigeria. Many ‘Andrews’ checked out in those days but many of them have checked in and back among us because there is no place like home. Rebranding is not all about what the country is doing or going to do but what you stand for as a person in the country. Every positive thing undertaken in Nigeria must not only be noised locally and internationally but be danced about. We need to embark on collective effort to make things happen and do something positive and be known for it. In this respect rebranding will thrive. There is a need for a very strong internal re-orientation programme for all Nigerians starting at the family levels. Family levels rebranding starts from when common values and morals are taught as it was used to be in the early days. What is the future of a country if parents will hire mercenary to write examination for their wards or even buy them results or get ‘expo’ for them in order to pass. The half bake syndrome is not even the case now; it is a matter of not being baked at all. So, at the family level, a lot has to be done. Mark it, a man who bought result or have a ’Toronto’ certificate, what will he offer his country in the future. All these things have to be checked and let it be a thing of concern to the government as the rebranding exercise takes off. Let the government begin to take interest in all of this, and Nigeria will be the better for it. Unfortunately, I have a very different opinion of the fact that those who can see very far will realise that Nigeria is on a journey about to happen. I am too certain that following history ardently and paying particular attention to the history of the Black Americans, particularly featuring the NAACP and Martin Luther King Jr. and other prominent activists, what they believed in worked for them and it has paid off at long run; it birthed the election of Obama as the first black American president. It is not in doubt that the ‘change’ preached so vehemently by Obama is about to happen in Nigeria. Nigeria is not hopeless and it is not genocidal. We have no other place to go and as such we much salvage Nigeria to make it great. The potential is here, the seed of greatness is in the land of Nigeria. The journey may be very slow or even tortuous but Nigeria will eventually arrive at the Promised Land. How? That then is dependent on the steps we begin to take from this moment. If somebody chose to ensure a rebranding, it will start from them and we will follow. There have been worse countries of the world that were in debacle, quagmarish and putrid socio-political and economic disaster but at some point, the world had a different opinion of them positively. It may have taken some time, but they got there. The “Two Thousands Seasons” of Ayi Kwei Armah with its satirical sub headings as chapters in the entire fiction seems so prophetic and predictive that one can easily join the league of the school of thought who lays claim to the fact that writers, poets and musicians have some form of clairvoyant tendencies and for that reason can be seen as prophets of some kind. The life of late legend ‘Abami Eda’ Fela Anikulapo, Bob Marley, and a host of others adduced to this truism through their works that are still speaking today after their death. The Hangers on, the Ostentatious cripples and others exemplified in the writing of Armah go to show that the predictions of many years through writings about the kind of leaders, the government and people in fraternity with the men of power are among us life and direct. Though the emphasis of Armah was reflective of the old Ghana but it is more of the general failed African states of that time which was inclusive of Nigeria. One very common denominator that has been downplayed over the years has a very particular stronghold on the reality of this new identity which of course is reputation management, it is critical to the success of rebranding. This very simple concept called reputation, you will discover at the long run that the entire meaning of a nation or any people either good or bad revolves around it. But the Ghana Armah pictured has survived that debacle period and enjoying the hard knocks and bashing of then. About image, Ghana has new and very positive identity. To some, Nigeria may be in ‘Fragments’, ‘The Beautiful Ones’ may ‘not yet be born’ but Nigeria has what it takes to change its image and take on a new identity. Nigeria is still one great country that very little effort with genuine interest on the part of all of us will reregister it as a foremost nation globally. Most of the time, what the people say about you to a very large extent determines how the world pictures you. Concertedly, the amount of effort you can put into controlling your outlook in terms of how you are portrayed and the attitude may determine whether there could be a positive damage control to an already messy reputation. Self reliance and personal responsibility are key to achieving this brand; it is a clarion call for everybody to be involved. The initiative is a Private Public People’s Partnership (PPPP). Which means no one is to be left out In the face of corruption that the administration of Yar’ adua so constantly hammer on – preaching against it and this unending show of almost deafened ear turned against this cardinal point with regards to those in the glass house, it becomes a bit difficult though not impossible to get the desired result. If the man in the glass house is constantly throwing stone, how will the house not be defaced? But seeing it as been very important and germane to the upliftment of this great country and at this time it is decided that Nigeria should do something about its facade, it is very possible to achieve this if a greater percentage of those saddled with the responsibility of steering the ship of the nation are willing to tow the line of responsibility. For a nation, reputation management begins at the point when those endowed to lead begin to do the right things. Thank God they have not been throwing chairs and slapping one another for some time now. Gradually they are growing up and the changes are coming in. President Yar’ adua affirmation to respect the rule of law and have zero tolerance for corruption in Nigeria leaves no one in doubt that the anti-corruption war has not only come to stay but to rebrand the country. If truly EFCC, ICPC and other anti-corruption arms of the government will only choose to carry out their mandate to the letter. Following the Information Minister lately, and considering the recent attack in Equatorial Guinea where some Nigerians have been accused of involvement bespeaks of the pain of lack of protection where any one in black skin who commits a crime is automatically tagged a Nigerian. You will observe there are too many impostors among us given Nigerians bad names and bad image abroad. The government owes the nation a very great responsibility at achieving this rebranding by ridding this nation of illegal aliens claiming to be Nigerians. This is one country that a man from Niger Republic, Togo, Ghana, and some other countries claim to be Nigerians and the Immigration and Custom officials do not realise they owe the country a duty of scrutinising the papers of these people if they have at all. Until they realise that they must carry out their God given responsibility without fear or favour of any kind they are not helping in rebranding. This group of unknown people will keep creating havoc within and outside the country and Nigeria will be blamed for it. Our self image which plays a fundamental role in rebranding is abused and insulted here in the country by some nationals who claim to be providing jobs for Nigerians though paying peanuts when the labour law is ineffective and cannot protect an average Nigerian, the man who for the fear of not losing his job cannot defend himself. This is a nation where a Lebanese, Syrians, Egyptians and some nationals in ‘white skin’ who have no papers ought to hide at the appearance of an Immigration Officer boast to be Nigerians and in some construction and textile companies treat Nigerians so shabbily, even sometimes are slapped by these foreigners in their country and they dare not raise a finger because the law protects them even better against the owner of the land. A man suddenly becomes a second class citizen even in his own fatherland. Why? Birthright has been sold for a plate of porridge. All this shall be visited as we march towards achieving the new brand. Hope energises and fuels the futures, Nigerians need to hope at this time for the best even in the face of the global economic recession. There are certain peculiarities that must be allowed to run to allow for the truism of this new image. Nigerians are making waves abroad both in the academia, politics, economics, science and technology to mention a few and if this is the case, it is high time we began to speak more of the positive impacts of Nigerians home and abroad and stopped the unpleasant and the ill beseeming statements about this great country. ‘Your word is your world’; let Nigerians begin to say very good things about Nigeria. In spite of all our bad times and challenges experienced has not been drawn into any war. I throw a challenge o the Public Relations Practitioners to come together and support Nigeria in this drive to achieving the new image. TO BE CONTINUED. Segun Imohiosen writes from Abuja
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